Reincarnated As A Plant Life

"Would the Lighted One mind if I told him a story?" Pagan asked, his voice nearly a whisper.

"Go ahead."

"This story is not like the Shri\'killian that these creatures speak off. It is not a tale, Lighted One, for I was there, and I lived it," Pagan explained, a faraway look in his eyes,

"Lighted One, can you guess how old I am? How many communes I have cycled through?" he asked.

"10?" Lucius answered. He knew from what Hannibal had told him that Pagan was many communes past the others, so he figured ten would be close enough.

"10... I think this commune was my 1005th," Pagan answered. And to this, coughs of disbelief filled the camp. Pagan\'s claim was just to shocking for anyone to keep their composure. But before he could lash out at the shrooms, Lucius voiced what everyone was thinking.

"Surely you\'re mistaken, Pagan. 1005 communes? How many days are in between each? A rough estimate," Lucius asked.

Pagan took a moment to think about it before answering, "Communes sprout once every 300 days."

"So you\'re saying you\'re close to 300 000 days old?" Lucius asked out loud. ~Thats 826 earth years,~ he thought to himself.

"I was around when the dark forest was still a but a blemish in the Fae forest," Pagan answered.

"The Fae were the original residents of the forest. Before these so-called \'owners\' came and killed them all destroying everything. They were the original plant life, the creators of us all," he said grandly, referring to the shrooms as well.

"There were others, god-like creatures such as yourself Lighted One," Pagan continued to explain.

"Creatures with horns and eyes, and powers just like yours. Creatures with scaled skin, and long tails. They crafted the forest on mere thoughts," he continued.

At this, Lucius couldn\'t help but remember the furry folk. If what Pagan was saying was true, then it made sense that he was referring to them.

"What was your role in all this?" Lucius asked.

"I was the last creation of the Fae. The first leafling," Pagan announced.

At this point, Lucius wasn\'t certain whether he ought to believe all this rubbish or ignore it. Though, with all the strange things in this world, he was more inclined to believe it. There was no harm in making a hypothesis based on this, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"You are the first leafling and the last they created?" Lucius asked out loud.

"That is so Lighted One."

"Then how did the communes start to sprout?" Lucius asked.

"Every 300 days, I and as an extension, all other male leaflings release seeds into the air, while the females release pods. Creatures such as the one we have in the camp... the insectoid as the Lighted One calls it, collect these and plant them in specific areas," Pagan explained.

"Specific areas?"

"Yes, the Fae said these were areas of high energy. I believe, that it is similar to the energy the Lighted One is able to exude,"

Lucius took a moment to process all this. He understood that he had never asked Pagan about this, but he hadn\'t thought it would be this deep. Who would\'ve guessed that the Pagan, the crazy cult leader, was an 800-year-old being.

"Let\'s say that what you\'re saying is all true, Pagan. Why are you so fixated on this Lighted One stuff? Besides the whole power thing, why are you so obsessed? The others see me as well, but only you behave the way you do."

"Because only I have seen the bounds of power. Only I have seen the power of gods. And you Lighted One, they spoke of your coming even back then. They spoke of a being, that will be born at the bottom of power, and lead the last creations to the top, to stand among the gods," Pagan began explaining.

Lucius couldn\'t help but feel that this story had a close similarity to the Shri\'killian\'s tale. A creature at the bottom brings others to the top.

"But why? Why would a creature need to do that?" he asked out loud. He wanted a reason, bringing them up wasn\'t enough.

"Because... because," Pagan tried saying, thinking hard. "I... can\'t remember," he said finally.

"Seriously..." Lucius whispered in defeat.

"Pagan... I know I hadn\'t asked about all this before now. But at some point, didn\'t it occur to you to tell me something of this magnitude?" he asked after a few moments of thoughtful silence had passed.

"I was under the impression that the Lighted One already knew all this, that he came here with that intention. The Lighted One began helping us as soon as he sprouted, he began giving us power that we never would\'ve imagined holding. Since the Lighted One was already doing what the Fae said he would do, I believed that he already knew," Pagan explained.

"I see," Lucius replied after some thought.

"Ah... The shrooms... the shrooms, what was I about to say?" he whispered to himself, his mind still in disarray.

"Ah, have you fed them yet?" he asked finally.

"They have been fed Lighted One,\' Pagan replied.

"The bones, bring them to me. As well as the fur," he ordered. "You\'ll find me at the camp," he added before turning to leave.

"Oh, and have the chieftains stand by at Asclepius\'s cabin. I need to brief them on a few things."

On his way back to the camp, Lucius tried to piece together everything he had just learned. If what Pagan was saying was true, then the furry folk might be allies. That\'s assuming that Lucius was actually this savior being that the Fae allegedly spoke of.

~It\'s highly likely that it\'s true though. My powers are able to link others to me, I am able to share skills and items. It\'s like my system was built to empower the weak," Lucius thought to himself.

~But it\'s all so curious. Why would these god-like plant creatures need someone to empower their weakest creations? Why couldn\'t they just make them all strong to begin with?~